1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a stabilizer or recycler which has a rotor housing, in which a milling/mixing rotor is arranged, and a unit for discharging binder for soil or base material stabilization.
2. Description of the Prior Art
To improve or consolidate soils or base materials, it is known for a binder in powder form, such as lime or cement for example, to be introduced into the soil or base material to increase the ability to be laid or load-bearing capacity thereof. Typical applications for soil or base material stabilization are the building of roads or railways or surfaces for industrial use.
There are known stabilizers or recyclers by which the binder can both be discharged onto the soil or base material and introduced into the soil or base material directly after being discharged. The introduction of the binder immediately after being discharged has the advantage that the binder cannot be blown away. It is therefore possible for the civil engineering machine to operate with little dust.
Basically, the known stabilizers or recyclers which do not have binder spreaders can be operated in the forward and backward directions. However, stabilizers or recyclers which do have a binder spreader have only one direction of working because the binder is always intended to be discharged ahead of the milling/mixing rotor. Therefore, what will be referred to in what follows is the direction of working of the type of stabilizer or recycler which is fitted with a binder spreader.
The known stabilizers or recyclers have running gear which supports a chassis. The running gear has wheels which are at the front and rear in the direction of working, and the rotor housing which holds the mill/mixing rotor is arranged between these. As well as this, the known stabilizers or recyclers also have a drive unit which comprises not only the driving engine but also other sub-units which are required for driving the civil engineering machine itself and for driving the milling/mixing rotor. These include for example hydraulic pumps to operate hydraulic motors by which the wheels of the self-propelled civil engineering machine are driven.
The unit for discharging the binder of known stabilizers or recyclers has a supply container for the binder and a metering arrangement for metering the binder. There are known stabilizers or binders in which the metering arrangement has one or more rotary feeders of the compartmented rotor type.
A characteristic feature of the known stabilizers or recyclers is that the rotor housing containing the milling/mixing rotor is arranged on the chassis of the machine between the front or rear wheels, the binder being discharged ahead of the milling/mixing rotor in the direction of working. As well as this, another characteristic feature of the known stabilizers or recyclers is that the supply container for the binder is arranged mainly ahead of the milling/mixing rotor in the direction of working.
EP 1 012 396 B1 describes a stabilizer or recycler which has a unit for discharging binders. The funnel-shaped supply container for the binder has a lower sub-section which is arranged between the front wheels and the milling and mixing rotor, and an upper sub-section which is arranged above the milling and mixing rotor. The rotary feeder of the compartmented rotor type for metering the binder is arranged at the outlet of the lower sub-section of the supply container.